Saving Grace
by X-magicalmystery-X
Summary: Once again the world comes under threat and this time Loki finds himself on the other side and is given a chance of redemption OC featuring all the favourite avengers
1. Chapter 1

_25__th__ April 2013 11am_

The town was deserted. The buildings were crumbling and eerily silent. The wind whistled down the cold grey streets, over abandoned cars, bicycles and even empty babies' cots. There was something about this deserted ghost town that made people uneasy right to their very core, it instilled a level of uneasiness that could not be put into words. Mannequins stared blankly through the windows of the shops, as if wondering where the people who used to come and stare at their beautiful clothing had gone. At the end of the high street stood the church, the great doors hanging from their hinges and adorned with scratches as though someone or something had fought with the last of their strength to resist being carried away. The gears in the bell tower had been broken so that the bell chimed continuously like the mayday bells on sinking ships.

All of this might have continued undiscovered for quite some time – the disappearance of an entire village overnight – if it had not been for two young girls out on their weekly horse ride through the village. As they reached the borders of the town the horses began to spook. They laid their ears flat to their necks, rolled their eyes and flared their nostrils. Both of the girls urged them forwards, their eyes wide as they found themselves in a real live ghost town. The horses shied and bolted before they could reach the centre, the girls were in no mood to protest.

The police and news crews arrived within an hour and events were set in motion that would change more than one life forever.

_25__th__ of April 2013 4pm_

Loki sat in his cell and counted the tiles on the opposite wall for the 14th time that day. He wondered whether it had really been worth it. He had been in this cell for more than a year with nothing to do but think, the silence alone would have driven a lesser man insane. Asgardians had never been good at physical torture, considering it beneath their dignity. Instead they consigned their worst criminals to white cells, deprived of any contact with anything. Food was given and taken away without the prisoner themselves ever glimpsing the provider. No one was to visit; there was no sound, nothing to look at, and nothing to help the time pass. One could only think.

And during the course of his thought he had begun to wonder at just how little he had managed to achieve. Early in life he had realised that if he wanted something he would have to go out and get it for himself, by any means necessary. He had held closely to this belief and had been certain that he had been owed something out of life, Thor had a throne, surely he deserved something too? Yet in recent months he was beginning to question this philosophy, so far it had led to death and destruction and an undetermined sentence in prison.

Perhaps Coulson was right…perhaps he did lack conviction. He shook his head; no he was the God of mischief, creator of chaos. If he didn't have that what was he?

Even so it occurred to him that the majority of his life so far had been spent going against the grain so to speak. Perhaps, if he had been the perfect brother that he had made such a show of being he would be in a very different position now. He might be a Lord of Asgard. Not as grand as King of course but there was always the chance that Thor would not have children and it was exhausting, constantly having to push against everyone else. Perhaps when he got out he would have a go at this 'hero' lark, just for fun.

_27__th__ April 2013 11pm_

Thor was troubled, anxious and concerned. In that order. He had just discovered another one; another planet devoid of life, empty and desolate. This was the fourth this week; he had never encountered anything like it before, ever. It was if everything had been drained of any soul, each world had been sucked dry by some kind of parasite and, judging by the pattern that was emerging Earth, or even Asgard would be the next target.

No, something would have to be done. He would consult with the Allfather, he would know if there was a precedent for this kind of thing. When he returned from their meeting his brow was deeply furrowed and he was more than a little concerned. N apparently undefeatable army was making its way closer and closer to Asgard, only Earth stood in its way and Earth was even now under attack.

His friends, he knew could look after Asgard until he got back but for now the Earth remained undefended and once again, completely unprepared. If the Allfather had been right, they would stand no chance against this army, even with all of their heroes, unless they could understand its leader. There was only one person he knew who had met tis particular enemy and lived to tell the tale. Currently that person was serving a prison sentence. He made his way to the prison and explained the situation to his prisoner as succinctly as possible

"You betrayed him and he'll want your blood. That should give you an incentive to want him dead" Thor explained "it won't be an easy fight but you should know that the second you betray me I _will_ kill you"

Loki contemplated the plan as if it was a sweet and he was trying to decide if he liked the taste, finally he grinned "when do we start?"

_28__th__ April 2013 10pm_

Dr Bruce Banner squinted as he attempted to continue his work despite the deafening volume of the music, he would never understand Stark's obsession with ACDC. Suddenly the music cut out. Tony had turned it off and was instead listening intently to the news.

Bruce strained his ears to listen too as he caught odd phrases from the news reporter.

'…no obvious signs of life…fourth case in three days…experts are unsure of what…confusion and fear continues…government urges the public to take precautions…'

There was a click as the television was turned off and the two men in the lab turned to stare at each other.

"This isn't normal" Bruce murmured "Something's not right-"

"And they're not telling us the full story" Tony interrupted. His mobile buzzed and he glanced at the screen, he grabbed a set of car keys and turned to Bruce "Get your jacket, Fury's made contact"

On the screen of Tony's mobile was a text message from Nick Fury containing one word 'Assemble'

_29__th__ April 2013 8am (UK time)_

Evangeline Hammond swigged her tea and surveyed her workshop. It was silent for the moment. It was always nice to start the day with a moment of peace she reflected before putting down her empty mug and turned on the radio. She picked up a wrench and started her work. She wasn't to know that by the end of the day her life would be changed beyond recognition.

**A/N: Ok, please don't hate me if I got any information wrong I only watched the films and looked at wikipedia (I've never read any of the comics) but I had this idea and I really wanted to try it out. This is my first Avengers fic but I really hope you like it, review and let me know :)**

Saving GraceSaving Grace (TV series), a 2007 television series airing on TNT starring Holly Hunter about a police detective given a chance at redemption by an angel 


	2. Chapter 2

**29****th**** April 9am**

Seeing the Avengers gathered together again was surreal. It had only been a couple of years since they had last been gathered together in this way and it gave everyone involved a sense of unease. Perhaps unsurprisingly Loki had received a less than friendly welcome. Thor had explained how reliant they would be on Loki's help and that he knew what the punishment for betrayal would be. Fury was still not happy, but after hearing Thor he agreed to accept Loki's help on the condition that Loki would be supervised or locked up at all times, would not have access to weaponry and would not be allowed to fight with them when it came to it.

Even with all of these provisos he had been consigned to the far end of the table and was at that moment being glared at by everyone in the room. He sighed and supposed that he should have expected no better. The last time he had been here it had been on a personal mission to kill all of them and destroy their planet. Anger was understandable, he suspected even without that history they would never have seen eye to eye. It was his own fault really, he had matured over his time in prison and had realised that Natasha Romanov's ledger might have been 'gushing red' but his hands bore more bloodshed than hers ever would.

Fury was directing their attention to the screens in front of them that showed various pictures of deserted towns. Initially none of them could understand why this was so discomforting, towns were deserted. It happened. But as they looked at the pictures and footage a shiver passed over the whole room, you could almost smell the stench of death that these towns carried with them.

"So what's actually happened then? The news has kept pretty quiet about it all" Asked Tony Stark

"We don't know" murmured Agent Romanov "there's no pattern, we just keep finding these places completely deserted, it's like everyone's just vanished"

"His name is Thanos" Thor said loudly "he's not of this realm"

"What's he doing? And why is he attacking Earth?"

"Because he feels like it" everyone turned to look at Loki who for the first time looked utterly defeated, he was tired and his shoulders had slumped "the last time I was here it was under his orders"

Several people flushed angrily at his words but Thor spoke before an argument had time to develop "This is not the first realm he has attacked; several others have already been his victims. He courts death and violence for their own sake."

"Which means he's much the same as every other lunatic we've ever dealt with" Steve Rogers was frowning

"Not quite" Loki re-joined "he has no morals of any kind. He doesn't want to rule the earth; he wants to destroy it completely. He commands an army of the unliving which grows with every realm he attacks."

"Unliving?" Stark scoffed "zombies?"

He was joking but when both of the demigods gave a sombre nod, the laughter disappeared and for the first time the Avengers looked scared

"How in the name of god are we supposed to defeat an army that's already dead?!" There was a note of panic in Barton's voice

"We're going to need reinforcements" Fury picked up a file and gestured for them to follow him

**29th April 10am in the air**

"Why England then?" Bruce asked. They had all been bundled into a very fast plane for reasons they hadn't fully understood and were now somewhere over the North Atlantic ocean

"I don't know how much you know about the undead in general but they tend to have a major advantage over the living because they're harder to kill. Thor thinks we have at best 4 days before Earth is subjected to a full scale attack so we're going to need help" Fury was passing copies of his file around the group. Loki was forced to peer over Thor's shoulder to look at his copy.

The file contained a photograph of a girl who appeared to be barely out of her teens along with a brief description of her.

_Name: Evangeline Hammond_

_Age: 25_

_Height: 5'7"_

_Eyes: Hazel_

_Hair: Fair_

"Hang on" Rogers' brow was furrowed and he held up a photo "this kid isn't 25, she looks too young"

"We think it's a manifestation of her powers." Fury shrugged "She may be older than that; all we know is that she's been here for 25 years and we're fairly certain she's some kind of demi-God"

Both Thor and Loki exchanged a glance "She is" Loki nodded

"You can't possibly know that from a photograph" Natasha Interrupted

"We've met before, her name was different then" Thor whispered "She's the daughter of one of the Goddesses of Vanaheim and the God of the demons, Surtur. Put simply, she's half Goddess half-demon."

Loki nodded "The two worlds are not allies. Often the Demons are said to be the embodiment of evil but the people of Vanaheim are almost angelic. Even as a baby there were many attempts on her life and there was such fierce competition over where she belonged and what should be done with her that entire worlds were destroyed"

"In the end" Thor sighed and rubbed his forehead "Father decided she would safest here and so she was sent to this realm, in order that she could be watched over and the war could end"

"Wait a minute" Stark was eyeing Fury very carefully "How much of this does she know?"

The following silence was enough of an answer

"So let's get this straight shall we? We're going to meet a girl who thinks she's just a normal person and then, over the space of four days we're going to break it to her that she's in fact not even human. Then we're going to attempt to give her some kind of grounding in combat before we ask her to use abilities that we're not even sure she's got to save the world that isn't even her home anyway. Well I can't see any problems with that at all, anyone else?"

**29****th**** April 7pm England**

They stood in what looked like an old aircraft hangar which was in fact full not only of planes but cars and the occasional boat supported by a trailer. All appeared to be gleamingly new and of the highest spec. Many of them bore the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. The workshop appeared to be deserted and was silent but for Stark's admiring comments on some of the cars. Apparently they were quite impressive.

Loki wandered too, bored. Fury had been certain that this was where they would find this girl and yet there was nobody there. Or so he thought until he heard a faint voice singing, odd words echoing off of the concrete floor. They sounded like an old hymn

_"…saved a wretch like me…blind but now I see…taught my heart to fear…my fears relieved…how precious did that Grace appear-"_

The singing came to an abrupt halt as the singer slid themselves out from under the nearest car, her long hair had been scraped back into a topknot and there were smears of oil all over her face and clothes but it was undoubtedly the same girl from the photo. Just as angelic in appearance with porcelain skin, rosy cheeks and large innocent looking eyes. Still looking barely eighteen she stared at all of them for a moment, bemused and for the first time they were all aware of how ridiculous they much have looked to her in full battle gear in the middle of her workshop. Then she saw Fury and smiled, the effect was instantaneous, Loki was reminded of the seraphs in church windows.

"Nick!" she exclaimed, hugging him in greeting as though he were a favourite uncle "I wondered when you'd be coming back, it seems like ages since you were last here" she turned her smile on all of them in greeting and several people found themselves involuntarily returning it "So" she nudged Fury "How can I help?"

**A/N: So here's a second chapter. I'm currently working on characters and stuff because it's difficult to incorporate all the characters into one scene and have them all be portrayed really well so there'll be some scenes with fewer people in in the next couple of chapters so that there's room for some proper dialogue. In the meantime though let me know what you think, reviews are****_ really_**** appreciated :)**


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